2024 Trail Grants

RTC has awarded 41 grants for a total of $421,500 to elevate and unlock the economic, health and quality-of-life benefits of trail networks nationwide. The 2024 grantees are creating lasting impact in the communities they serve—bringing new infrastructure and programming to make it more equitable for people to safely walk, bike and be active outside.

Rails to Trails Conservancy’s Trail Grants program invests in infrastructure and programming necessary to create more access to trails for more people across the country. We believe everyone deserves access to safe spaces where they can walk, bike and be active outside, and trail networks provide those essential elements and have a proven transformative impact on America’s communities. 

These grants help organizations and public agencies accelerate their trail network plans, while supporting community-based organizations working to connect more people to these spaces in neighborhoods across the country. 

Since 2008, RTC has provided nearly $3.4 million in grant funding to more than 250 organizations.

Meet the 2024 Grantees

Hundreds of trail networks are being developed nationwide, with new trail networks coming together in every single state delivering, creating opportunities and delivering quality of life in hundreds of communities. This essential infrastructure, and events and activities that encourage participation, are what’s needed to make it safer and more convenient for millions of people to walk, bike and be active outside where they live—whether that’s to get around town or have fun in nature.  

RTC’s 2024 grantees are working to support, develop and activate local and regional trail networks. The projects and programs funded are helping to create equitable access to safe spaces where people can walk, bike and be active outside in the communities where they live.  

Communities Unlimited (AR/MS): Building a community-led vision in rural Arkansas to improve and expand the Hollandale Rail Trail.

Arizona Trail Association (AZ): Supporting the Seeds of Stewardship program, which uses the Arizona Trail as an experiential learning classroom to foster a connection between youth and their surrounding public lands.

Pinnacle Prevention (AZ): Growing capacity to work with the Arizona congressional delegation and statewide advocacy for active transportation and trail funding.

Trailblazers (AR): Growing capacity to advocate for federal active transportation funding to members of the Arkansas congressional delegation.

City of West Sacramento (CA): Implementing a community engagement strategy in support of the Clarksburg Branch Line Extension, part of the Sacramento Regional Trail Network.

Play Marin (CA): Engaging Marin City youth in outdoor recreation, promoting physical health, environmental stewardship, and community cohesion.

City of Greeley Natural Areas & Trails Division (CO): Implementing a trail accessibility audit to inform updated design standards for the local trail network.

Friends of Northeast Georgia (GA): Developing the Tallulah Falls Rail Trail & Greenway, a 58-mile trail in Appalachian Georgia.

Hawaii Bicycling League (HI): Growing capacity for advocacy to the Hawaii congressional delegation for active transportation funding.

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (IA): Developing and implementing an outreach program to engage Latino communities in Marshalltown to increase awareness of the Iowa River’s Edge Trail, part of the Great American Rail-Trail®.

Project Uplift (ID): Restoring the Bunker Hill Mine Historical Plaques to turn the trail into a living museum, offering rich historical insights that attract visitors interested in the local heritage.

Active Transportation Alliance (IL): Growing capacity for federal advocacy with the Chicago-area congressional delegation and statewide advocacy with the state legislature and the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Central Maryland Transportation Alliance (MD): Growing capacity for state advocacy to increase funding for trails and active transportation, and policy changes that support accessible, equitable and safe places to walk and bike including state Department of Transportation reform and greenhouse gas emission legislation.

Town of Pittsfield (ME): Supporting efforts to secure a Recreational Trails grant for the development of the Pittsfield Recreational Rail Trail.

Bicycle Coalition of Maine (ME): Growing capacity for federal advocacy with all members of the Maine congressional delegation and supporting statewide advocacy for trail and active transportation funding.

League of Michigan Bicyclists (MI): Growing capacity for state advocacy to increase funding for trails and active transportation, and policy changes that support accessible, equitable and safe places to walk and bike including state Department of Transportation reform and greenhouse gas emission legislation.

Michigan Trails and Greenways Alliance (MI): Growing capacity for partner engagement and statewide advocacy for trail and active transportation funding, local projects and funding applications, and planning efforts.

Water Valley Main Street Association (MS): Establishing the Yalobusha Greenways Alliance to conduct a feasibility study to map and plan the future Water Valley Rail-Trail, which will serve as the 3.4-mile spine of the emerging trail network in Yalobusha County, Miss.

Cut Bank Trails (MT): Supporting efforts to develop the Nyhagen Trail, part of the Cut Bank Trails network, which will connect residents and visitors with destinations in Cut Bank and Glacier National Park.

Northwest Nebraska Trails Association (NE): Developing phase 2 of the Cowboy Trail Connection near Chadron, which will help complete a 321-mile segment of the Great American Rail Trail.

Friends of Madison County Parks & Trails (OH): Developing a strategy to close a critical gap in the trail network through London, Ohio.

Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission (OH): Developing a planning study to rehabilitate the Market Street Bridge, a missing link across the Ohio River for the Industrial Heartland Trails network and the Great American Rail-Trail.

Clinton County Trails Coalition (OH): Purchasing adaptive bikes, providing an outdoor experience for people of all ages and abilities in the region.

City of Akron, Ohio (OH): Supporting efforts to close a critical gap in the Rubber City Heritage Trail that connects neighborhoods, schools and economic centers.

Capital Area Greenbelt Association (PA): Working with the City of Harrisburg to relocate a section of the loop trail to increase equitable access to the outdoors and serve a nearby veteran services center.

Erie Area Council of Governments (PA): Implementing a wayfinding strategy for the Greater Erie Sapphire Parks, including trail signage and an updated website for the trail network.

Brookville Trail Hub (PA): Supporting efforts to secure grant funding to extend the Five Bridges Trail between Allens Mills to Brookville.

Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area (PA): Completing the final design and engineering for a new section of the Schuylkill River Trail, creating more equitable access and economic opportunity in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Clear Lake Authority (PA): Developing a 1-mile extension of the East Branch Trail to expand access and engagement with a nearby Amish community.

Healing Through the Land / In Color Birding (PA): Supporting the Trips to Trails program in partnership with In Color Birding to increase access to the outdoors for BIPOC individuals in historically underfunded and underserved communities throughout the Circuit Trails network in the greater Philadelphia region.

Hike + Heal Wellness (PA): Leading field trips for their members to build new friendships and foster self-care through hiking on regional trail networks in the mid-Atlantic.

PAL: Play. Advocate. Live Well. (SC): Deploying trail counters along the Daniel Morgan Trail Network that will guide on-going community engagement efforts in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Black Hills Works (SD): Designing two new sections of Rapid City’s Legacy Trail, including a connection to a local public high school, expanding safe active transportation options for area youth.

Shelby Farms Park Conservancy (TN): Developing the Shelby Farms Park Trail System Master Plan. Don’t miss our related 2016 blog Tennessee’s Shelby Farms Greenline.

Paso del Norte Community Foundation (TX): Implementing the Love Your Paso del Norte Trail program in the El Paso area to cultivate a sense of community ownership and stewardship for the Playa Drain Trail within a historically marginalized community.

Friends of Santa Fe Trail (TX): Developing new wayfinding standards for the regional network in the Dallas area, including Spanish-language wayfinding.

Bike Utah (UT): This funding will increase Bike Utah’s capacity to advocate for state funding for trails and active transportation at the state legislature, as well as relevant policy changes that support accessible, equitable and safe trails and active transportation.

Elizabeth River Trail Foundation (VA): Norfolk’s Elizabeth River Trail Foundation is on a mission to extend their eponymous trail to connect to the future St. Paul’s Blue/Greenway Park, expanding trail and transportation access to a historically disinvested community.

Town of Cowen (WV): In West Virginia, the Town of Cowen is leading efforts of a feasibility study for the Cranberry Tri-Rivers Extension Project, which will explore the corridor’s potential as a vital connection and multi-purpose trail for communities spanning Cowen to Richwood, WV.

Latino Outdoors (National): Supporting Latino Outdoors’ Vamos Outdoors programming to provide members of Latinx and other underrepresented communities with transformative outdoor experiences. Don’t miss our related 2023 blog Trail Moments with Latino Outdoors Outings Leader Valerie Pasión.

HBCUs Outside (National): Working with six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to develop outdoor experiences on multiuse trails that introduce students to the opportunities inherent in this infrastructure. Don’t miss our related 2024 blog Ron Griswell of HBCUs Outside Is Bridging Gaps to the Outdoors.